Farsighted strategies in the formation of a communication network

I examine the formation of a specific communication network, a variant of the two-way flow model, in which agents have farsighted strategies. I show that the likelihood to form efficient networks tends to zero for sufficiently large network sizes.     

Network externalities and long-run market shares

We study a dynamic duopoly model with network externalities. The value of the product depends on the current and past network size. We compare the market outcome to a planner. With equal quality products, the market outcome may result in too little standardization (i.e. too many products active in the long run) but never too much. The potential inefficiency is non-monotonic in the strength of the network effect, being most likely for intermediate levels. When products differ in quality, an inferior product may dominate even when the planner would choose otherwise, but only if the discount factor is sufficiently large     

地区专业化形成机制研究

传统经济学文献强调地域特有资源对区域专业化形成的影响，克鲁格曼等新经济地理学家则强调基于企业规模经济的累积过程机制，本文以马歇尔关于地方化产业形成机制的理论分析为基础，以初创企业建立及其带来的市场信息和技术知识溢出来解释区域专业化的形成。     

我国商业银行营销渠道的选择

商业银行营销渠道的选择是一项重要的战略决策，它会极大地影响其经营业绩和成本水平。目前，我国商业银行的营销渠道还比较狭窄，基层网点功能单一，服务手段落后。今后，商业银行要根据目标市场客户的需求，积极开发新的金融产品，大力整合、开发和拓宽营销渠道。     

Complementarity, coordination and compatibility: The role of fixed costs in the economics of systems

We analyze industry equilibrium and incentive to compatibility when goods produced by different producers generate utility only when consumed as component parts of a system. We assume the presence of two systems, each composed of some basic component and a set of differentiated complementary products. The combination of complementarity between the two components of the system and of fixed costs in the production of the complementary product results in a form of network effect. We focus on the role played by the size of the fixed costs in the production of the complementary products in determining the size of this system effect and, by this means, the structure and types of equilibria that may be observed: monopolistic or duopolistic, symmetric or asymmetric. We also highlight the consequence of the same fixed costs for the private and social incentives to render the systems compatible.     

Do converters facilitate the transition to a new incompatible technology? A dynamic analysis of converters

This paper analyzes the process of transition in standards between incompatible technologies when converters are available. Contrary to a common presumption that converters facilitate the transition from an old technology to an otherwise incompatible new technology, I find circumstances in which the possibility of transition is blockaded by the existence of converters. In the welfare analysis of converters, a distinction is made between ex ante and ex post efficiency effects. Finally, I also analyze the equilibrium behavior in the provision of converters and compare it to the socially optimal outcome.     

Social networks in the global banking sector

We show that banks with shared social connections partner more often in the global syndicated loan market and that central banks in the network play dominant roles in various interbank transactions, indicating that social connections facilitate business connections. However, more centralized banks in the network also contribute significantly to the global systemic risk. Moreover, we find the soft information generated by social networks is particularly valuable when potential partners operate under different accounting and regulatory standards. Finally, we show that the recent banking crisis significantly limited the positive soft information effects of social networks in the global banking system.     

An application of network analysis on tourist attractions: The case of Xinjiang,China

This study constitutes a novel application of network analysis to explore the underlying mechanisms of tourist attraction network informed by tourist flows. Using survey data collected from a sample of 456 tourists visiting Xinjiang, China, the study applies the Quadratic Assignment Procedure (QAP) to test the relationships between region proximity, grade proximity, and tenure proximity, and the attraction network determined by tourists' free choice movements. Results show that while region proximity and tenure proximity among major attractions in a destination were positively related to attraction network, grade proximity was negatively related to the attraction network, indicating that same grade attractions were mostly competing with one another for tourists. The study contributes to the methodological development of social network analysis in tourism and advances understanding of demand-driven network relationships among tourist attractions in a destination. Destination management implications are discussed.     

Contagion risk in the interbank market: a probabilistic approach to cope with incomplete structural information

One lesson of the financial crisis erupting in 2008 has been that domino effects constitute a serious threat to the stability of the financial sector, i.e. the failure of one node in the interbank network might entail the danger of contagion to large parts of the entire system. How important this effect is, depends on the exact topology of the network on which the supervisory authorities have typically very incomplete knowledge. In order to explore the extent of contagion effects and to analyse the effectiveness of macroprudential measures to contain such effects, a reconstruction of the quantitative features of the empirical network would be needed. We propose a probabilistic approach to such a reconstruction: we propose to combine some important known quantities (like the size of the banks) with a realistic stochastic representation of the remaining structural elements. Our approach allows us to evaluate relevant measures for the contagion risk after default of one unit (i.e. the number of expected subsequent defaults, or their probabilities). For some quantities we are able to derive closed form solutions, others can be obtained via computational mean-field approximations.